


Possession is a trauma born from routine

by orphan_account



Category: Ghost - Mystery Skulls (Music Video), Mystery Skulls (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 20:12:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2705096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Possession isn't all that its cracked up to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Possession is a trauma born from routine

He doesn't like being alone. He does not like when there is no one around to comfort him and make sure he doesn't accidentally kill himself. He does not like being around others. It triggers his anxiety, phantom eyes watching his every move and judging his every word. He stutters too much, can't think of anything to say, when people stare at him expectantly. He crowds in himself, makes himself as invisible as he can which sometimes doesn't work out when he's craving attention.

He needs constant approval for mundane tasks and yet he doesn't want to bother anyone. He wants to be spontaneous and do something on his own but he can't seem to stop himself from following. He is fizz in a bottle, burning at the nose only to retreat into nothingness. He is worthless.

" _ **You're not**_." Lewis says reassuringly. Lewis who occupies his body and can read his every thought. Lewis who could not, as a being of pure spirit, pass through the warded house at the end of an empty driveway. Lewis who had to kind of possess Arthur's body just to step on the porch because Mystery said no and possessing Vivi would be rude.

Arthur bites his lips as he steps on a squeaky floorboard, he's in control now, Lewis taking a backseat in his mind but he could feel him, a strong presence that burned brightly. Even though he'd usually be an anxious mess in an abandoned house he's surprisingly calm. Something about Lewis just radiating calm waves in his body, maybe, or just the thought that he's not really alone.

" **I'm right here."**  Lewis says and he doesn't have his usual reverberate. His voice is just right in his mind, smooth and gentle and lively. Lovely.

" **Didn't know you liked my voice that much."** Lewis says or maybe thinks with a chuckle.

"This is creepy." Arthur says out loud and very much does not think anything untoward or awkward. Nope, no awkwardness here. His hands shake a little and he sneezes at the dust from the house and Does. Not. Think.

" **It's fine Arthur. I swear you look into things way too much."**

Either way, Arthur keeps his mind as blank as he can and when that doesn't really work he thinks of things in succession. The peeling wallpaper of the house, the mildewy smell that should probably be checked out, the flicker at the corner of his eye that's just a bug, just a bug. His eyes roam, always looking for something new to take in and analyze to help keep him and Lewis busy: the rotting wood, the paintings of old people whose eyes hopefully do not move to take in his every step, the light that comes on and off like some old buzzing open sign.

" **Would you like me to take over?"**  Lewis asks and Arthur feels both relieved and frightened because his body is way too tense but at the same time-

But this is Lewis, and Lewis would never hurt Arthur - couldn't hurt Arthur even if he tried (and he's tried).

"Maybe for just a sec?"

It's weird, watching your body move and not being able to control it. He's fine with it until he tries to back away further, leave Lewis to do all the work. He closes his proverbial eyes, rests them just for a minute because Lewis will get them out all right and Lewis will wake him if there's any danger. He closes his proverbial eyes and starts feeling a little numb, there is no more sensation of clothes against skin, no puff of breath through lips, his hearing starts to go, the squeaks of floorboards dropping away to silence.

It's when he can't really feel his own heartbeat that he awakes with a gasp.

_He can't control his left arm._

"Arthur? What's going on? Do you want me to back off? Am I hurting you?"

_He feels himself slipping on wet stones and dry rage._

"Arthur?"

_He killed Lewis. He killed Lewis and there is something inside him laughing cruelly. It wasn't him. It wasn't him. He can't feel the left side of his face._

He tries to breathe calmly but it's not him breathing, the tempo is all wrong. He tries to flex his muscles but it does not respond. He can't feel his left arm.

"Arthur? I'm backing off now."

He feels his senses return to him one by one, his eyes open to, not a cave, but a room, a cracked mirror to the side and runes littering the ground, wards against spirits he knows proxy Vivi's study. He's safe here. The drawn curtains make it hard to see the outside but he doesn't really want to go outside right now.

Next comes his hearing, the gentle autumn wind whistling through cracks in the wall, then comes the smell of rotted wood, then finally feeling. His heart beats fast and his labored breathing is loud in his ears. He clenches his hands.

He can't feel anything. He stares at the shiny metal, the little plates that move in sync to give wide range of motion. He stares at it blankly until he realizes he's not alone.

" **Arthur, I'm so sorry, if I had known it would've triggered you like that…"**

Arthur had forgotten about Lewis for a second. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry." Arthur says because he should because he  _murdered his best friend_. It doesn't matter-

" **No."** Lewis says like gravel and stone, the building blocks to Arthur's sanity. " **Arthur I** _ **saw**_   **what happened. From your eyes. I felt your grief Arthur."**

Lewis pauses and while Arthur feels guilt, as he should, he also feels something else. Warmth. Like a blanket tucked to his shoulders and a pillow under his head, like a warm bed where no nightmares can haunt him.

" **You should've told me you weren't sleeping well."**  Lewis says and he sounds just like a mother hen. He sounds like one of those cartoon angels, the ones that stands at his shoulder and helps the hero save the day. He's not a hero.

"Saw that too huh?" Arthur says out loud even though they both know it doesn't matter. He wonders what else Lewis saw during his freak out.

" **Vivi, Mystery and I love you. You know that Arthur?"**  Lewis asks. Arthur would reply, something defensive or evasive, a little of both but he feels sleepy. He remembers feeling sleepy after his first possession. Or was that the blood loss? Was he bleeding now? He still can't feel anything from his left arm. Maybe it got bitten off again.

There's a bed at the corner, warm brown duvets and dark oak wood. It's queen-size and creaks only a little, the mattress a little stiff but after sleeping in the van it's practically heaven-sent.

" **Arthur? I don't think this is a good idea."**

He is asleep before his head hits the pillows and he feels only mild panic before it fades into rigid duty. He is taken care of, he knows this now, and he sleeps easily. His head tilts right, his senses dulled in sleeping but he can still hear the wind through the cracks, could smell the faint scent of incense stuck to the building like cigarette smoke but sweeter.

He can still feel Lewis like a guard dog in his body.

When he awakes he's being carried by Lewis into the van. Bridal style.

He squeaks, manly squeaks, not at all like a mouse being chased by a cat, and sits straight up. "Where am I? What happened?"

He looks at Mystery and Vivi who shrugs and then to Lewis whose gloves (there are no hands behind the gloves, Vivi checked) are oddly warm where they touch his lower back and behind his bended knees.

"You went to sleep and the house started to fade away after about thirty minutes. The bed was still there but the runes were gone and so I came out." Lewis shrugged in an, I-don't-get-it kinda way. "You were snoring and wouldn't wake up so I carried you to the van."

Arthur mutters a quick, "thanks" and pushes himself to the ground, yawning. He was more tired than he thought but that's what happens when you skip out on sleep he guessed. Maybe if he was lucky he could catch some quick zs in the van before the nightmares came back.

Before he could call dibs on the mattress in the back of the van Lewis hugs him. Arthur is assaulted with ghost fabric, soft against his face and the clean scent that was Ghost Lewis' trademark. No matter if they travelled through mud or the dumpster, the woods or the city Lewis seemed incapable of smelling bad. It was one of his supernatural abilities Vivi proposed with a teasing smile: disappearing mansions, producing Dead Beats and nice smell.

Arthur could feel Lewis' gloves rubbing circles against his back like he used to when Arthur had panic attacks. Back when Lewis was alive and there wasn't so much of a rift. Arthur let out a breath, a rattle that only made the tears fall faster down his face.

"Stop blaming yourself Arthur." Lewis whispered, honey sweet and so sure, "I saw what happened, I  _felt_ what happened. It wasn't your fault."

"I forgive you."

Arthur clenched at Lewis' suit, hoping that super cleaning was part of Lewis' supernatural abilities and feeling hopeless and thankful all at once. He was aware of the slow closing of the van's door. Mindful that Vivi and Mystery were probably waiting in the van respectfully ignoring his blubbering, he drew back and smiled. Lewis couldn't really smile back but he knew he would if he could.

"We'll need to talk more in-depth later." Arthur felt warmth at the pat on his back, "Come on. Before Vivi starts honking the horn."

When they slid into the van Vivi smiled at them, fond and warm. Mystery licked at Lewis cheeks, and knowing that Arthur was more wary of Mystery's canines, nosed at Arthur's wet cheeks shaking his head side to side in the dog's version of Eskimo kisses.

"Everything alright you two?" Vivi asked.

"Fine." Arthur says, tear tracks down his face but a small smile gracing his often-bitten lips. "Perfectly fine."

**Author's Note:**

> Time to get all the ooc fic out of the way!
> 
> Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.


End file.
